Butter-cream milk-chocolate frosting for cakes

First of all, a very Happy Mothering Sunday to all you fabulous ladies! I got to enjoy some baking time with my family here as a Mother's day present. I am over the moon to have this quality time as opposed to some commercial off the shelf gift. We had a fantastic time making a chocolate cake and chocolate frosting (buttercream, is there any other?!) and putting them together and in the process eating at least half the frosting! All three of us do not care for the commercial frosting. We find them too sweet. Both Anjalie & I are not fans of dark/bitter-sweet chocolate. So we girls out voted Naz to have a milk-chocolate frosting instead. Since Naz finds the cream-cheese frosting a bit overwhelming due to the tangy taste, we decided on the milder butter-cream frosting and, yes, we did make it less sweet. Here is our recipe (which we have always loved) but feel free to add more sugar if you want it sweeter. To match the sweetness you get in the commercial product you might have to double the amount of icing sugar used in this recipe.

You will need (for the frosting):

225 grams butter (1 Cup) at room temperature -not melted

210 grams (1.5 cups) icing sugar

1-2 tsp milk/cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup milk chocolate powder (any hot chocolate will do) - I used cadburys

100 g milk chocolate - melted & cooled

First of all beat the butter until soft and creamy (for 2-3 mins) using an electric/stand mixer or food processor. Add vanilla and mix well. Sift icing sugar and chocolate powder together. Add icing sugar mixture, one third at a time, until fully incorporated. Beware, to run the mixer in low-speed to avoid icing-sugar mess! Add melted chocolate and mix well. If needed add milk 1 tsp at a time to get desired consistency. I needed 2 tsps last night. But there have been days when I did not need any! So, I guess, it depends on the weather and quality of the other ingredients.

You will need cake next. For recipe for chocolate cake refer here

Here are Naz & Anjalie helping with the cake mixing.

Butter-cream frosting is very easy to pipe, so, it is perfect for cake decorating. I have done a combo of shells and stars using a medium sized star tip to decorate my cake. Hope you enjoy your cake soon. Happy mothers day!